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1690034

registered interest
date	19/02/2024
answering body	Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
answering dept id	215
answering dept short name	Energy Security and Net Zero
answering dept sort name	Energy Security and Net Zero
hansard heading	Offshore Industry: Marine Environment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Government's target of protecting 30% of UK waters for nature by 2030 on her Department's criteria for oil and gas development permissions.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	14555
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/02/2024 answer text <p>A comprehensive framework of environmental protection measures has been developed in the UK to minimise the impact of offshore oil and gas activities and this is embodied in the relevant legislation. Development proposals for oil and gas are a matter for the relevant regulators - the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) and the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED). As part of the regulatory process, OPRED considers the Environmental Impact Assessment for development proposals to ensure that the impact on the environment, including marine protected areas and relevant targets is taken into account.</p> answering member constituency Beverley and Holderness answering member printed Graham Stuart question first answered 27/02/2024 07:31:32 answering member 1482 label Biography information for Graham Stuart
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

1688184

registered interest
date	07/02/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Higher Education: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the report entitled Financial Sustainability of the UK Higher Education sector, published in January 2024.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	13573
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2024 answer text <p>This response assumes that the report referenced is PwC’s UK Higher Education (HE) Financial Sustainability Report, which was commissioned by Universities UK. Departmental officials have met with Universities UK to discuss the findings of this report.</p><p>The PwC report cites similar risks to those identified by the Office for Students (OfS), which is the independent regulator of HE in England responsible for monitoring the financial sustainability of registered HE providers. The latest report by the OfS on the financial health of the sector, which was published in May 2023, can be accessed at: <a href="https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/0b7d9daa-d6c7-477e-a0b2-b90985d0f935/financial-sustainability-report-2023-updated-june-2023.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/0b7d9daa-d6c7-477e-a0b2-b90985d0f935/financial-sustainability-report-2023-updated-june-2023.pdf</a></p><p>The department continues to work closely with the OfS, HE representative bodies and other government departments, as appropriate, to understand the financial sustainability of the sector.</p><p>In the aforementioned OfS report on the financial health of the HE sector, the OfS stated that the overall aggregate financial position of the sector is sound. However, there continues to be significant variation between individual providers, both across the sector and within peer groups.</p><p>The department consistently assesses the potential implications for any policies that could impact the HE sector, including financially, and particularly with respect to the interests of students.</p><p>It is important to note that HE providers are autonomous and, as such, it is for them to decide effective business models in order to adapt to financial risks. All HE providers should be stress testing their financial plans to ensure they are fit for purpose and that they do not rely on optimism around student recruitment.</p> answering member constituency Harlow answering member printed Robert Halfon question first answered 19/02/2024 17:03:57 answering member 3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

1688185

registered interest
date	07/02/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Universities: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding allocated to universities for teaching for 2024-25 sufficiently enables institutions to support their students.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	13574
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2024 answer text <p>The Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) is funding which is supplied by the government on an annual basis to support teaching and students in higher education (HE). This funding also includes subjects that are expensive to deliver, such as science and engineering, students who are at risk of discontinuing their studies, and world-leading specialist providers.</p><p> </p><p>​The department is investing hundreds of millions of pounds in additional funding over the three-year period from 2022/23 to 2024/25. This is to support high-quality teaching and facilities including funding for science and engineering, subjects that support the NHS, and degree apprenticeships. This includes the largest increase in government funding for the HE sector to support students and teaching in over a decade.</p><p> </p><p>In the 2023/24 financial year, over half of the total £1,454 million SPG recurrent funding budget is being directed towards the provision of high-cost subjects that support the NHS and wider healthcare policy (for example, medicine and dentistry), science, engineering, and technology subjects, and specific labour market needs.</p><p> </p><p>There is also £276 million of Student Premium and mental health funding available this academic year, 2023/24, to support students who need additional help, including disadvantaged students. This funding complements the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes. The department is now making a further £10 million of one-off support available to support student mental health and hardship funding. It will continue to liaise with the Office for Students on the impacts of cost-of-living pressures.</p><p> </p><p>Over the three-year period from 2022/23 to 2024/25, the department is also providing £450 million in capital funding to invest in teaching and learning facilities which meet the government’s strategic priorities.</p><p> </p><p>The next SPG allocations will be announced ahead of the 2024/25 academic year.</p> answering member constituency Harlow answering member printed Robert Halfon grouped question UIN 13575 question first answered 19/02/2024 16:59:08 answering member 3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

1688186

registered interest
date	07/02/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Universities: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding allocated to universities for teaching for 2024-25 enables institutions to provide high quality education that meets national skills needs.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	13575
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2024 answer text <p>The Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) is funding which is supplied by the government on an annual basis to support teaching and students in higher education (HE). This funding also includes subjects that are expensive to deliver, such as science and engineering, students who are at risk of discontinuing their studies, and world-leading specialist providers.</p><p> </p><p>​The department is investing hundreds of millions of pounds in additional funding over the three-year period from 2022/23 to 2024/25. This is to support high-quality teaching and facilities including funding for science and engineering, subjects that support the NHS, and degree apprenticeships. This includes the largest increase in government funding for the HE sector to support students and teaching in over a decade.</p><p> </p><p>In the 2023/24 financial year, over half of the total £1,454 million SPG recurrent funding budget is being directed towards the provision of high-cost subjects that support the NHS and wider healthcare policy (for example, medicine and dentistry), science, engineering, and technology subjects, and specific labour market needs.</p><p> </p><p>There is also £276 million of Student Premium and mental health funding available this academic year, 2023/24, to support students who need additional help, including disadvantaged students. This funding complements the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes. The department is now making a further £10 million of one-off support available to support student mental health and hardship funding. It will continue to liaise with the Office for Students on the impacts of cost-of-living pressures.</p><p> </p><p>Over the three-year period from 2022/23 to 2024/25, the department is also providing £450 million in capital funding to invest in teaching and learning facilities which meet the government’s strategic priorities.</p><p> </p><p>The next SPG allocations will be announced ahead of the 2024/25 academic year.</p> answering member constituency Harlow answering member printed Robert Halfon grouped question UIN 13574 question first answered 19/02/2024 16:59:08 answering member 3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

1680931

registered interest
date	09/01/2024
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Ophthalmic Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to (a) reduce waiting times and (b) improve patient outcomes in NHS opthamology services.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	8731
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/01/2024 answer text <p>We are taking action to recover elective services, including ophthalmology, by working towards the targets set out in the Elective Recovery Plan and providing the National Health Service with record levels of staffing and funding. We plan to transform the way the NHS provides elective care by increasing activity, including through dedicated and protected surgical hubs, focusing on providing high volume low complexity surgery as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. These hubs will initially focus on driving improvement in six high volume specialties, one of these being ophthalmology.</p><p>Most recent published data from NHS England shows the average wait time for referral to treatment for ophthalmology was 11.7 weeks, below the national average of 14.4 weeks.</p><p>NHS England is currently considering how eye care services should be commissioned to ensure future sustainability. This includes looking at how more patients can be triaged and managed in the community, freeing up capacity for those that need face to face specialist care.</p> answering member constituency South Northamptonshire answering member printed Andrea Leadsom question first answered 17/01/2024 14:46:29 answering member 4117 label Biography information for Andrea Leadsom
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

1680932

registered interest
date	09/01/2024
answering body	Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
answering dept id	215
answering dept short name	Energy Security and Net Zero
answering dept sort name	Energy Security and Net Zero
hansard heading	Great British Insulation Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to encourage companies to offer under floor insulation installation under the Great British Insulation Scheme.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	8732
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/01/2024 answer text <p>The Government sets the overall target and scheme rules, including which measures are eligible for the delivery of the Great British Insulation Scheme but does not direct which insulation measures are installed; that is left to the obligated energy suppliers and their installers to determine.</p> answering member constituency Derby North answering member printed Amanda Solloway question first answered 16/01/2024 11:55:11 answering member 4372 label Biography information for Amanda Solloway
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

1680664

registered interest
date	19/12/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts and Tribunals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to tackle court and tribunal backlogs.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	900812
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/01/2024 answer text <p>The pandemic and barristers’ disruptive action created a significant challenge for our courts, but we are working hard to reduce outstanding caseloads across all jurisdictions.</p><p>Thanks to our investment in judicial recruitment, we expect to recruit over 1,000 judges this financial year across all jurisdictions.</p><p>We are investing £220 million for essential modernisation and repair work in our court buildings over the next two years.</p><p>We also continue work to maximise the capacity of the tribunals, aided by a new electronic case management system.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 09/01/2024 16:15:06 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

1675423

registered interest
date	05/12/2023
answering body	Department for Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	217
answering dept short name	Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Gambling: Internet
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to introduce age verification checks for online streams of gambling content.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	5222
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/12/2023 answer text <p>The Government recognises that it is particularly important to take steps to protect young people from online harms and is aware of issues around online streaming of gambling content. We welcome the measures which some streaming platforms have taken to ban the streaming of gambling content where it may reach underage audiences.</p><p>Many online streamers of gambling content have affiliations with the gambling sites on which they play to target consumers in Great Britain and encourage them to gamble. This brings them under the current regulatory umbrella for gambling advertising. Where streams amount to advertising then they are subject to the robust rules that are in place to ensure that gambling advertising is socially responsible and cannot be targeted at or strongly appeal to children. This ensures licensees are held to account for the activities of their marketing affiliates.</p><p>Further, there are robust age verification requirements in place to prevent children from creating online gambling accounts or accessing facilities to gamble themselves, even where they have seen streams. As outlined in the white paper, the measures introduced in 2019 have been effective in preventing children from being able to gamble online with either their own or invented identities.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 13/12/2023 17:15:39 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

1675424

registered interest
date	05/12/2023
answering body	Department for Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	217
answering dept short name	Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Gambling: Regulation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans her Department has to (a) investigate and (b) regulate (i) crypto-casinos and (ii) other new and emerging forms of gambling.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	5223
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/12/2023 answer text <p>All providers of betting and gambling services in the UK must be approved and licenced by the Gambling Commission. Where crypto-assets are used, they are required to notify the Gambling Commission. No licensee has informed the Commission that they are directly accepting crypto-asset deposits.</p><p>The Commission already has a range of investigatory and prosecution powers, but we are further strengthening its ability to take down criminal gambling websites though the Criminal Justice Bill.</p><p>We continue to work with the Commission to consider the risks posed by novel forms of gambling or boundary pushing products.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 13/12/2023 17:20:56 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

1675425

registered interest
date	05/12/2023
answering body	Department for Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	217
answering dept short name	Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Gambling: Video Games
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the guidance on Loot boxes in video games: update on improvements to industry-led protections, published by her Department on 18 July 2023, what steps she is taking to review the impact of these measures on protecting people from gambling harm.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	5224
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/12/2023 answer text <p>Following the Government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/loot-boxes-in-video-games-call-for-evidence/outcome/government-response-to-the-call-for-evidence-on-loot-boxes-in-video-games" target="_blank">response</a> to the call for evidence on loot boxes in video games, the Government has <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/loot-boxes-in-video-games-update-on-improvements-to-industry-led-protections" target="_blank">welcomed</a> new industry-led guidance that aims to protect young people from gambling harm.</p><p>Measures to protect young people should ensure that the purchase of loot boxes should be unavailable to all children and young people unless enabled by a parent or guardian, and all players should have access to, and be aware of, spending controls and transparent information to support safe and responsible gameplay.</p><p>DCMS has published a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/video-games-research-framework/video-games-research-framework" target="_blank">Video Games Research Framework</a> to support high quality independent research into video games, building understanding of the impact of video games, including loot boxes.</p><p>In parallel to the framework, we are now working closely with academics to ensure specific and robust evaluation of the implementation and efficacy of the new industry-led measures on loot boxes in meeting the government’s objectives. We will provide an update following a 12-month implementation period.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Maldon answering member printed Sir John Whittingdale question first answered 13/12/2023 09:02:12 answering member 39 label Biography information for Sir John Whittingdale
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield